Damira

Damira was born in the village of Chaldovar (Panfilov Region, Kyrgyzstan), where she still lives now. She is 58 years old. She was the third child in a large low-income family. From an early age she had to help her mother with household duties, which is why she completed only seven grades of primary school. At 22, she got married. Before long she had a son and later on two daughters. At that time, Damira’s husband started raising sheep, but this work was not particularly profitable. However, steady income was necessary to support the growing family. And this is how, lacking formal education and practical knowledge, Damira decided to go into retail.

Like many in a similar situation, Damira started by selling at the local market. With three children to feed and without a reliable source of income, working as a vendor was the only opportunity to have earnings. After much effort, her first year of entrepreneurship turned out to be successful. The starting capital amounted to 4,000 KGS, and already after the first year of work Damira was able to increase her investment. After selling food items at a market for five years, Damira was able to buy a pavilion and open a small grocery store near her home. From then on, retail became a family business. Her son got married, her older daughter too, while the younger daughter started helping with the business. In 2009 Damira obtained her first loan for 100,000 KGS from “Bai Tushum and Partners” and built a store on her own land plot. Her retail work started to bring in a steady income; the number of customers kept increasing.

Then the family had to face an emergency: Damira’s only son was seriously injured in an automobile accident and required expensive medical care. Around that time, her granddaughter was born, which necessitated further expenses.

At present Damira plans to receive her next loan for 100,000 KGS in order to expand her selection of goods and buy a new refrigerator for her store.

The MFC “Bai Tushum and Partners,” CJSC offers loans through Kiva for socially vulnerable populations. The MFC “Bai Tushum and Partners,” CJSC is a leading microfinance organizations in Kyrgyzstan. “Bai Tushum and Partners” is a reliable financial partner that contributes to the economic development of Kyrgystan through providing affordable microfinance services in rural and urban areas and thus promoting the creation of work places and serving the interests of its clients and investors.

Additional Information

About Bai Tushum Bank CJSC

Bai Tushum Bank CJSC is a microfinance bank in Kyrgyzstan offering clients a range of products including loans for business development, trade, production, leasing, mortgage, consumption and more. Its portfolio is mostly comprised of group loans that cater to the broadest population of clients. Kiva lenders’ funds help the bank expand its services in remote areas to impact even more vulnerable communities in Kyrgyzstan.